Finally my French has got to the level where I can spend time socialising with French people and start to understand more about the French way of life.
I have to say that the levels of concentration needed to follow conversation over a few hours is rather exhausting, but it is like a door has been opened to a whole new world.
My spoken French has improved a bit, but I am still a long way from being to express myself – which remains frustrating.
Although I have met some really interesting people through going to watch football, the main way we have met people is through an organisation called Accueils des Villes Françaises.
AVF is a network of local groups that help welcome people when they move to new towns in
Although we are not the only arrivals from overseas, most of the people we have met through AVF are French. It has been great to meet people around activities – such as day-trips, cooking groups and over coffee – and be able to ask for tips about living in
Mainly, though, it is a very good opportunity for me to practice listening to and speaking French with people who have chosen to be interested in ‘new arrivals’ and are generally very patient with my poor grasp of their language.
Earlier this week we went out to see a film with a small group of others from AVF. We saw Faubourg 36 which is the hit French film of the autumn and it was the first French language film I have watched without any form of subtitles.
Thanks to it being an excellent film, I was able to understand the story and what the director was saying, despite struggling to make an exact translation of all the dialogue.
I am a big fan of cinema and French cinema in particular. So, for the first time I watched the full screen of a foreign-language film, rather than mainly focussing on the subtitles. In many ways, this is probably the most exciting aspect I have discovered of my improving French.
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